In observing Municipal Court at Jefferson County Court House there were many adolescences present. Thought there were older adults, the adolescences or delinquents seems to make up a number of the people there. The thought is, is there an effect the young adults there or reason why young adults are seen in municipal court. When observing the present of the adolescences was interested because of the fact that most were told to shape up or they would end up in jail. One was also told to get into counseling and have an intervention or would end up in jail. Amélie Petitclerc says, “As most repeat offenders first come into contact with the law as adolescents, the juvenile justice system may present an ultimate intervention opportunity to modify criminal behavior and reduce suffering” (Petitclerc 291). Knowing this before observing would have caused me to be bias and suspect that adolescents would be there and intervention would be offered instead of going straight to jail.
When observing court many of the adolescence were there without parents and it brought to mind the thought of where there parents were. Parents are a key in a child’s life they teach them the right, the wrong, and help them when they get into trouble. Cindy Lederman states in her study, “The parent–child relationship is crucial for promoting both healthy child development and trusting relationships over time” (38). With the parent neglecting, abused, or abandoning the child can lead them to wrong things like stealing to get away from everything. When that happens, “The juvenile court together with the child protection system and other agencies that work with maltreating families have the unique responsibility for protecting children from family members who have ...
... middle of paper ...
...ally wrong with them one the inside.
Work Cited
Forgays, Deborah Kirby. "Three Years of Teen Court Offender Outcomes." Adolescence 43.171 (2008): 473-484. Academic Search Premier. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
Lederman, Cindy, and Joy D. Osofsky. "A Judicial–Mental Health Partnership to Heal Young Children In Juvenile Court." Infant Mental Health Journal 29.1 (2008): 36-47. Academic Search Premier. Web. 11 Apr. 2014.
Petitclerc, Amélie, et al. "Effects of Juvenile Court Exposure on Crime in Young Adulthood." Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry 54.3 (2013): 291-297. Academic Search Premier. Web. 11 Apr. 2014.
Stoddard-Dare, Patricia, Christopher A. Mallett, and Craig Boitel. "Association between Mental Health Disorders and Juveniles' Detention for A Personal Crime." Child & Adolescent Mental Health 16.4 (2011): 208-213. Academic Search Premier. Web. 11Apr. 2014.
Thus, the shifting perceptions of the justice system has transformed what it means to be a child and an adult due to their pervasive, and punitive approaches to crime and delinquency. Although adolescents today enjoy many new freedoms and greater time to experiment, those that don’t conform to “normative behaviors” and engage in socially constructed definitions of delinquency, often end up under the firm hands of the juvenile justice system. Despite the creation of this phase in an adolescent’s life, the injustices within the adult justice system have breached into the juvenile system, thus, blurring the lines of what it means to be an adolescent in modern times. Thereby, the adolescent stage is constantly being manipulated to conform and match the social construction of crime and delinquency, and the rise in the practice of trying juveniles as adults within the court system and mandating life sentences is evidence of this
One of the major determining factors of the beneficialness of teen courts, is recidivism. According to Butts and Ort...
Jenson, Jeffrey and Howard, Matthew. "Youth Crime, Public Policy, and Practice in the Juvenile Justice System: Recent Trends and Needed Reforms." Social Work 43 (1998): 324-32
Soulier, Matthew F. and Scott L. Charles. "Juveniles in Court." Harvard Review of Psychiatry (Nov 2010): 317-325.
The Juvenile Justice system, since its conception over a century ago, has been one at conflict with itself. Originally conceived as a fatherly entity intervening into the lives of the troubled urban youths, it has since been transformed into a rigid and adversarial arena restrained by the demands of personal liberty and due process. The nature of a juvenile's experience within the juvenile justice system has come almost full circle from being treated as an adult, then as an unaccountable child, now almost as an adult once more.
Varma, K. (2007, April). Parental Involvement In Youth Court. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 49(2), 231-260. doi: 10.3138/9565-1823-66UT-507K
In 2007 there were approximately 77,200 fathers and 65,600 mothers incarcerated in the United States (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2007). As our society continues to grow, our jail and prison population are growing as well. When a parent or guardian is taken into custody the juvenile (child) is taken and released to a relative or child protective services. The children are either given to a close family member or a surrogate parent, meaning a foster home. This may have an emotional impact on the juvenile involved, which may lead them to committing delinquent acts. The children sometimes feel they are left to fend for themselves emotionally and the stress of these emotions are left upon the guardian at the time. These intense sufferings sometimes leave the juveniles in a harmful mental state resembling depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and feelings of abandonment from their parents/guardians. Children with incarcerated parents are five times more likely than their peers to commit crimes (Texas Department of Criminal Justice, 2008).
Arya Neelum , Ryan Liz , Sandoval Jessica, Kudma Julie . “Jailing Juveniles: The Dangers of Incarcerating Youth in Adult Jails in America: A Campaign for Youth Justice Report” The Campaign for Youth Justice Nov.2007 ebscohost. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
Teplin, L., Abram, K., Mc Clelland, G., Dulcan, M, & Mericle, A. (2002). Psychiatric Disorders in Youth in Juvenile Detention, Arch Gen Psychiatry, 59 (12), 1133 - 1143
What is important to understand in terms of the difference between the juvenile and adult system is that there is a level of dependency that is created between the two and the juvenile system focuses on how to help rather than in prison individuals at such a young age. However, it usually depends on the type of crimes that have been committed and what those crimes mean for the families and how they impact the greater society. The adult system distinguishes between dependence and delinquency mainly because there is a psychological transition that occurs with juveniles that is not always a predictor of a cyclical life of crime. However, if an adult is committed to the justice system, there can be a dependency of delinquency and a cycle of crime that is more likely to be sustained at that age and level of cognitive ability than in comparison to a juvenile. The reasoning behind this is important is that it is focused on maintaining a level of attention to the needs and capacity abilities of individuals living and working in different types of societies (Zinn et al., 2017).
Youths who have entered the justice system have often been diagnosed with mental disorders or diseases. “A majority of adolescents formally involved in juvenile court have at least one, if not more than one, significant emotional or learning impairment, or maltreatment experience” (Mallet, 2013). The existence of these diseases often effect the juvenile’s stability and ability to make rational decisions. Which may result in them engaging in criminal activities The prevalence of disruptive behavior disorders among youths in juvenile justice systems is reported to be between 30 percent and 50 percent (The mental health needs of juvenile offenders). The difficulties of these disorders are often
Mental health treatment among juvenile is a subject that has been ignored by society for far too long. It has always been one of those intricate issues that lead to the argument of whether juveniles should receive proper treatment or imprisoned like any other criminals, and often trialed as adults. Many times, young people are often deprived of proper help (Rosenberg) However, we often overlook the fact that while they are criminals, they are still young, and fact or not, it is a matter of compassion that must be played from our side to help these youth overcome their harsh reality. As such, we do however see signs of sympathy shown towards juvenile. Juvenile health courts give help to youth to youth who have serious mental illness (Rosenberg). It is often asked in general, would mental health treatment cure juvenile criminals? In my opinion, when you look at the background of these young criminals, it is frequently initiated from negligence and feelings of betrayal (Browne and Lynch), of course leading to mental disorder. However, further zooming into their background, it is always proper treatment that saves them from their unfortunate circumstances. Research shows that giving juvenile criminals mental health treatment did not only reduce re-arrests but also further improve their ways of living among the society.
Mulder, E., Brand, E., Bullens, R., & Van Marle, H. (2010). A classification of risk factors in serious juvenile offenders and the relation between patterns of risk factors and recidivism. Criminal Behaviour & Mental Health, 20(1), 23-38. doi:10.1002/cbm.754
Loeber R., and D.P. Farrington. “Serious and violent juvenile offenders: Risk factors and successful interventions.” Thousand Oaks. 1998. First Search. Feb 2007
Bridges, K. M. Banham . "Factors Contributing to Juvenile Delinquency." Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 17.4 (1927): 531-76. scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu. Web. 15 Mar. 2014.